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Article length and citation outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Syed Hasan

    (School of Economics and Finance, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand)

  • Robert Breunig

    (Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Australia)

Abstract

We examine whether there is any causal effect of article length on citation. Focusing on articles published between 2010 and 2014 in the top five journals in economics and their citation count in Google Scholar, we find that a one per cent increase in page length generates a 0.55 per cent increase in the number of citations. A small survey of economists suggests that this effect may be a result of longer articles containing both theory and empirical elements. We interpret our result as a causal estimate conditional on average quality per page.

Suggested Citation

  • Syed Hasan & Robert Breunig, 2020. "Article length and citation outcomes," Discussion Papers 2003, School of Economics and Finance, Massey University, New Zealand.
    • Handle: RePEc:mas:dpaper:2003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Ha, Taehyun, 2022. "An explainable artificial-intelligence-based approach to investigating factors that influence the citation of papers," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
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    Keywords

    Article length; Google Scholar; citations; Economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics

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